Transmission Beginning Today of Major Animation Series from BBC Scotland

Transmission begins today of a major animation series for children made in Glasgow by BBC Scotland’s Children’s Department.

Seventy characters inhabit the OOglies’ world – among them motor-biking eggs, dancing underpants and a daredevil tomato. Set in an ‘ordinary’ household where just about everything comes to life, Ooglies is being broadcast every weekday for the next few weeks.

It was made over four months in a Glasgow industrial unit and involved more than 40 animators, designers, model-makers, wire-painters and editors, led by Scots art director Jason Orr, whose credits include another BBC Scotland production,Shoebox Zoo, and production designer, Laura Donnelly, whose credits include Monarch of the Glen and Half Moon Investigations.

Lead animators include Mole Hill (Creme Egg and Dairylea commercials, Yoho Ahoy for BBC Worldwide) and Bruce Husband (Little Robots for Cosgrove Productions, Haunted Hogmanay for Ko Lik Films). Says Husband: “It is terrific to be back working in animation in Scotland. It is something that doesn’t happen often enough, but hopefully OOglies will change that.

“What has been especially great is the team coming together with top names in animation and design working alongside trainees, building up a diverse range and levels of expertise here.”

There were also some breakthroughs for UK animation, with the team first to use a digital animation software pioneered in North America, and a production rate for each animator of 20-to-25 seconds a day, almost three times the ‘normal’ speed for stop-frame animation.

The series has been created and written by in-house BBC Scotland team, Tim Dann, series producer, Nick Hopkin and Austin Low, with Sue Morgan as executive producer.

Andy Wyatt, ex-Aardman and Fictitious Egg and currently Head of Animation at University College, Falmouth, has been the animation supervisor.

Said series producer, Nick Hopkin: “This is a major project for BBC Scotland. As far as we know there hasn't been an animation project on this scale in Scotland before.”